"Why is hyperfocal focusing called hyperfocal?" "Nifty" was taken.
On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 6:46 AM, Eric Weir <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Jun 6, 2011, at 9:52 AM, Paul Stenquist wrote: >> >> You can't just shoot at infinity or any other fixed focus setting and expect >> to get good results. Subjects that are in the range of DOF will be somewhat >> sharp, but not critically. You're probably getting some motion blur at that >> speed as well. >> >> For shooting sports, go to a smaller stop, perhaps 5.6, and a higher shutter >> speed, 1/500th or more, and focus on the target. With the *istDS, you'll >> probably have to focus manually to nail it. > > Thanks to everyone for the usual PDML generous, intelligent, and kind > responses to my novice-y predicament. As Paul's first sentence makes clear, I > was sorely confused on this topic, and have a lot yet to learn. Some > observations in response, to test how much I understand: > > * Motion blur was not the problem. There was some of it in some of the > images, but the I was talking about was the one you guys nailed: wildly > inappropriate focus. > > *I have two choices: Focus manually on the target or use hyperfocal focus. > [Though really, in the circumstances I described, focusing on the target is > likely to be necessary.] > > * Hyperfocal focus: Use the DOF scale; set focus of the most distant point of > the scale for the aperture used to the farthest point you want to be in focus. > > * On all lenses I've seen, there's a dramatic jump from the longest definite > distance on the DOF scale to infinity. That's why it's often hard to set the > hyperfocal distance. > > * The DOF scale is not the only guide to the hyperfocal distance. It can be > calculated. There are tables. > > * Why is hyperfocal focusing called hyperfocal? > > * In the circumstances I described, use higher ISO [400 to 800], and faster > shutter speed [1/500]. > > * Manual focusing in sports photography is difficult. It takes practice. One > strategy is to focus on a location and wait for the action to appear. > [Difficult in soccer. The goal mouth comes to mind, but it covers a lot more > territory than a base in baseball.] > > * I've chosen manual focus because it forces me to learn. When I've learned, > and it seems to be needed, I'll consider autofocus. At this point, that time > is a long way off. > > That's what I'm taking away from what I got. Corrections of understandings > and reminders of oversights are welcome. [*I* think my understanding is > pretty vague.] > > Again, thanks to everyone who responded. I quoted Paul because he summed it > up pretty well, but there was such clear near unanimity that I couldn't > really single out any responses as most helpful. > > I do want to thank Matthew, though, for the link to the DOFmaster site. > > Sincerely, > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Eric Weir > Decatur, GA USA > [email protected] > > > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- Steve Desjardins -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
